A crafty Grandma who knits, sews, crochets and cooks.

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Category Archives: Knitting

I’ve been doing a lot of clearing of old things that just get put somewhere stupid.

partially a box of yarn I found upstairs, among this I found a carrier bag, one of those old 1990’s M&S bags from before my town even had a Tesco! Inside that bag were a pair of knitting needles, a sleeve, a jumper front, a jumper back and another sleeve which had only been knitted up to the rib.

There were also two and a half balls of the wool, Sirdar Silky Look.

Sadly there was no pattern. I thought I was going to have to give up, because without a pattern how could I finish the last piece? It was one sleeve that was all, I had even done most of the rib so I had the right number of stitches.

Old wool

I looked in my pattern books and found a “feather and fan” stitch cardigan, which was the same stitch as my jumper so surely I could work out how to finish a sleeve from this. The pattern is feather and fan basic

These 4 rows form the pattern so by counting the stitches and the patterns I was able to work it out and knit the second sleeve. The top shaping was a bit fiddley to work out but in the end I now had 4 pieces of jumper. Now all I needed to do was the neck.

Feather and Fan stitch, simple and pretty

The front and back were on stitch holders, the old-fashioned safety-pin type, so were securely held I picked up the stitches along each said and knitted about 6 cm rib so it would fold over to form a neck . I did the back and front separately but the neck would be too tight to get over my head if I joined it all together. I needed buttons or something. Then I had another look at the shape of the sleeves. I could now join these to the front and back but the top lined up with the base of the neck.

There was an 8cm section which needed rib joined on then it could be added to the neck to give a jumper with a neck easily big enough to slip on and no buttons needed. So I attached the sleeves added the rib and finished it. I even inserted elastic so it would fit snuggly and I can wear a necklace with it too.

I like a lot of pages on Facebook, to begin with it was something I didn’t see the point of, but now I’m starting to catch offers from it. I found a really good one from Purl City Yarns where they were giving away a free set of crochet hooks with every order over £15! I couldn’t miss that one as I’m short on the sizes before 3mm and above 5mm. Now I’m good. This offer is still running until the end of May, their shop is here if you want to order. And they have free postage for orders above £25.

At the top you can see my free 12 pack crochet hooks 2mm -8mm! They’re aluminum, but I like those.

I’m going to show you all the goodies I got!

This is a shawl pin by Symfonie costing only £3.30. Since my daughter started wearing a shawl and saying how comfortable it was I thought I’d wear one of my mum’s old shawls. She was right, they’re great for around the house, my only complaint is that it will slip off sometimes, happily this shawl pin stops it and looks pretty!

I’ve also got a pack of candy love hearts and some wool washing liquid for free. The sweets were yummy and my son enjoyed them, but I’ve not yet used the washing liquid. I’m probably going to try it then if I like it buy one for me and one for Andi.

The washing liquid is called Euclan, it’s a washing liquid for delicates no rinse lavender fragrance. I’ve only got a 5ml sachet, and I need to find something woolen to try it on.

Andi has been going through a sock phase, which is great! I’ve decided to profit from this by asking for my own pair of socks. She told me to buy her the yarn to do it, well, here’s one of the ones I chose. It’s Lang Jawroll, Magic Degrade, shade 0050 Macaw, 75% wool 25% nylon £7.95 100g ball. 25% nylon is fairly standard for sock wool from what I can tell, as is the price of £6-10. What I liked about this one was the colours! It reminded me a lot of the Katia yarn I got a while back. I will have colourful and warm feet soon.

The other yarn I chose was Lang Millie Colori sock and lace, in shade 90, again it’s 75% wool, 25% nylon. £9.95 for a 100g ball. Still in the standard price for sock yarn, and again the colours are amazing. The photo doesn’t do it justice, and I don’t think I’ll be able to show the full beauty until this is knitted, but it is lovely.

Next are the stitch holders, what’s so special about these? It’s a Clover jumbo double ended stitch holder, They’re £4.20 for a pack of two which I feel is good value and about the same price as the standard safety-pin style stitch holders. I got the 7mm size, but there is a smaller one available.

This is the photo of the double ended stitch holder with a normal safety-pin style stitch holder. It is modern, but flimsy and easily bends so the stitches can fall off. Once it came open in my knitting bag. So I went back to using an antique of my mum’s.

These safety-pin style stitch holders are old and I’m sure they were my mum’s. They do work but you can still only access the stitches from one end. Meaning you need to slip them onto a double-pointed needle and sometimes turn and it’s a lot of faff.
That’s why I got the double-pointed stitch holder! It looked so practical, and it was fairly cheap.

Otherwise, I’m very please with this yarn shop. It’s got a very interesting range of yarns I’ve never heard of, and the fiber contents are all good quality, wool based as far as I could tell. I had a poke through the books to and there is a lot of interesting stuff there. I would recommend this shop to anyone.

The shipping time was great too! I ordered Saturday afternoon and it got to me Tuesday morning!

The current offer is “Free PCY Project Bag when you spend over £50 / Free Crochet Hook Set with orders over £15″

So I will update soon when I’ve tried these goodies out. I will also share a jumper I made recently. For more updates you can check out my Facebook page.

I have a new finished object! I’ve been finishing things fairly quickly recently, since we got all the junk out of my crafting room. This one is actually a girls’ pattern by Sirdar, it’s 1273, but without the fair isle pattern. Knitted in Patons FAB which is 100% acrylic. The shade was Rio, a lovely bright slightly boys shade that I’d put a girl in any way.

When I say finished I mean I need to get buttons, but I’m going to venture into a physical yarn store to do that, for once…

This was how it started…

Again I was shopping on Deramoresand I was just looking at Patons, I like the brand and I’ve been using it for years, always good quality. I’m not overly keen on acrylic, I prefer cotton, but this one was actually quite nice. It didn’t strand and there wasn’t any of that horrible squeaking noise they sometimes make. The stitches are clearer than on some acrylics, but nowhere near as good as the likes of cotton.

It was sadly made in Turkey, realistically I can’t afford Yarns made in the UK such as WYSpinners or the lovely country bird range Andi found me. I’d rather have something made in the UK, or even Europe.

The yarn is meant to be machine washable, at 40° and low tumble dry. I won’t be risking that last one and 30° is good enough, better yet, COOL WASH. I’m always scared of damaging something I’ve knitted. This will be the real test of the yarn since it’s not yet been washed.

Lying in pieces, with the back still in progress.

This Sirdar pattern 1273 is very nice with a great fair isle pattern, but I omitted that to just make a normal cardigan. It says it’s for girls but I’ve made some for Sandy and Neil. The pattern is written for their beautiful Baby Bamboo yarn, and that’s a favourite but that’s more Andi’s thing and that’s for another blog post.

I even knitted on bamboo needles!

Bamboo needs have long been Andi’s obsession, she either can’t or won’t knit on metal single pointed, although she hates bamboo double-pointed. I wanted to see what the fuss was about and there is definitely something lighter about them. Their easier on the wrists. So I’ll be doing that again fo sure!

Stitch definition

As I said about the stitch definition, it’s great! For an acrylic. I do like Patons, as did my mum, but back then it was a UK brand working only in the UK, now it’s all foreign labour I’m a bit put off.

And what next?

A chunky black and purple cardigan for my daughter. It’s acrylic, but it’ll keep her warm until she earns a woolen one!

I’ve been knitting again, well, I’ve not stopped. Since finding Deramores getting wool has been easier. I found an amazing fair isle vest pattern by King Cole and I knew instantly that Andi would love one for her son. It was vintage, retro, granddad vests and cardigans! But I didn’t like the colours. You can buy the pattern here if you like it too. It’s sized 0-6 months to 4 years.

A real Granddad vest!

So I decided I was definately going to make this one but I needed to choose the colours. I like clashing things, originally I was going to do grey or black, but when I saw the colours in King Cole Big Value DK I knew I wanted Gold. The other colour is a Navy from King Cole Comfort Baby DK. When my parcel came this was the first thing I started out of all the yarns I’d bought.

Knitting up the front, with a fairly simple fair isle pattern

The back was easy and only took two or three days, but it was plain, the front took me much longer because of the fair isle pattern. The effect is well worth it though.

Pinned out to dry flat

When both pieces were finished, yesterday, I carefully hand washed them and pinned them out onto a towel to dry. I always do this because the pieces dry flat and are easier to sew up. So for now I’m just waiting for the pieces to dry and I’ll be picking up the neck and arm holes and it will be finished! I’m really excited to see this one done.

Here is a close up of the fair isle pattern.

This was my first time using Big Value DK and over all it’s just another acrylic, better than Robin or other cheap ones, but okay. The texture is pleasing enough, I can’t say I’d use this again because I prefer cotton yarns, but for an acrylic it’s okay.

Comfort is a lovely soft blend of Acrylic and Nylon, it fluffs a lot so the stitch definition is lost, but for this I think it works. I like it for baby things, but it wears out fairly quickly so I’d not make much out of it.

I’m always needing something to finish a little cardigan, or something I’ve sewn. Crochet embellishments just work great for me, and I seem to always be making flowers for something, so I’ve treated myself to this book, I’ve not made anything yet though. I think it looks good, and the instructions seem easy to follow, maybe I’ll write a review soon.

20 to make Crochet Granny Squares

I always find granny squares versatile too. Sandy has blankets made from them, as did my children. I’ve used them in cardigans, bags, everything. I got this from Deramores, again I’m very pleased with it and it seems easy to follow. It’s also small, so I can take it out with me.

Red heart 100% acrylic black 4ply. The left over Wendy Festival from Andi’s winter set. And a set of buttons I liked.

All of the above is from Deramores. I’m making a little cardigan from the black acrylic, it’s cheap, and I don’t know how it will wear so if the jacket comes out very nice I’ll make another one in cotton. It’s for Sandy, in 2-3 years, but the pattern includes 3-4 as well.

The Wendy made Andi a very nice hat and scarf, but I’ve not yet got the decent pictures of it.

And the buttons? I don’t know yet, I just liked them.

Sirdar Montana

Eight balls of Sirdar Montana. I’m not sure what this is for yet, it was in the sale.

Thee balls of Patons 100% cotton. Two balls of red Bonus DK acrylic, and one ball of green.

This yarn is from Hobycraft, the black 100% cotton. I got red and green is acrylic too, there was a 3 for 2 offer on. I want to do a strawberry jumper. I had to drive ten miles to the nearest hobby craft though, which is slightly annoying, on the plus side, parking was free.

C&H wool haul.

This photo is a mess. I raided the sales in my local (expensive) wool shop. I did very well.

I got a pack of crochet hooks, just because they’re always good to have around and I’m missing a lot of smaller sizes.

4 balls of Wendy Supreme DK cotton, two orange and two green.

Sirdar snuggly 4ply in sage.

An odd patterned wool that’s lost the band.

And an odd chunky, same story.

Regia 4ply sock wool, two balls.

An eyelash yarn by Sirdar, not sure what for, but loving the colour. I only use those yarns for trims anyway.

4 balls of a nice cotton yarn that I can’t remember the name of at the moment.

Next I’ll be knitting this all up. Well, hopefully. I got four patterns too, but I’ll show those when knitted up.

Andi keeps nagging me to get a ravelry, I don’t know what the big deal is.

I’m sorry I’ve not written anything on here for a while. I’m a little unsure about what to write, and then I’ve been busy with crafting. I’ve been meaning to post my recent makes on here for a while, but it becomes a case of “let me finish this one last thing” and then I never update before I start something new.

One of the privileges (or responsibilities, or tasks, or whatever you want to describe it is) of being a grandmother is that you get to, and are expected to, knit for your grandkids. When you’re a mum it’s always the kids begging you to stop, now you’re a grandma your kid is asking for things for her child. Or at least this is my take on things.

Currently I’m working on a blackberry stitch cardigan, it’s plain colours but the stitches look like blackberries, hence the name. However, I keep messing it up, I get tired and I miscount the stitches or something goes wrong and I have to undo it again. Gah!

I’ve also finished a crochet minion hat for Sandy, because I thought they’d like that one. And I’ve done a lot of work around the house too, things are progressing.

Andi got a notebook for christmas, and in this notebook she has (at least) a page of demands. It’s even titled “List of Demands” it’s a mixture of knitting, sewing and crochet for herself, Sandy and sometimes George. Apparently she has a list on her tablet too, but that’s things she’s planning to make.

At last read the list had

Chunky slouchy hat for Andi, with matching scarf. Knitted or crochet.

Sewn dungarees for Sandy.

Sewn shirts for Sandy.

Knitted octopus. (normally she follows this with several exclamation marks!!!)

Crochet minion hat for Sandy.

Crochet Spike hat. (My Little Pony’s cute baby dragon)

Crochet Rainbow Dash hat. (My Little Pony again)

Elf hats for Andi, Sandy, George and myself for winter 2014.

Chunky Cardigan for Andi for autumn 2014.

Beard hats for George and Sandy.

Plush sewn My Little Pony characters.

This list is growing and my list of things I’d like to make is almost non-existent, so I’ve bought some wool to do her things. We did it together over Skype, but it wasn’t the same as going to the wool shop together, and talking with the old woman behind the desk, and faffing about and poking the wool, some things about the internet will never compare.

The haul

I spent around £60 at Deramores. I got free postage meaning it actually works out as cheaper to buy online than to travel to my wool shop, sadly. Before we even looked at anything we worked out what we were actually making up first, we settled on Andi’s hat and scarf with Sandy’s Rainbow Dash set. And a bonus Rainbow Dash hat for Andi.

Wendy Festival Secret Garden

The first wool we picked out was Andi’s, for a chunky scarf and a hat this was probably going to be the most expensive thing. We started off looking at Katia Azteca because we couldn’t find a 100% wool yarn to use. In the end we decided on Wendy Festival wool, in the shade Secret Garden. It’s a lovely, stunning, bright blue, with hints of other colours. I got three balls, and it worked out as roughly £13. Not bad, even if the yarn is 100% acrylic.

Katia Darling shade 201

Andi and I found Katia yarns by accident, but they are amazing with the colours. We found them in Paris, and she made me a hat for Christmas using their Azteca wool. She found this Darling, but it was 4ply. So we decided it could be another hat for Sandy. This was £5, it’s a wool mixture, I’m excited to see this one.

I also bought four balls of King Cole Big Value, a DK acrylic yarn. I choose the shade surf, a lovely bright blue. I’m making a Rainbow Dash hat with it and some odds and sods from my scraps box. This was £2.60 a ball, so around £10.

I bought four patterns, but they’re not that interesting. I’ll share those when my order arrives. And some dinosaur buttons because they stood out to me, and a little book of 20 crochet granny squares.

Granny squares are one of these amazing things because they can make almost anything, blankets, scarfs, jackets, I’ve even seen them used in hats and bags before.

So I’ll be writing again once my £70 wool order arrives, showing off what I’ve made, and opinions about the wool and objects.

Like this:

Hi mum! I love you. I’m knitting you a scarf for Christmas because I’ve stolen your hat. Sorry, but remember, I love you!

Oh, hi Andi! Sorry I’ve not been online much today, I might have had car issues, but if I say that you’ll scream “woman driver” at me.

I love you too, what do you want? Money? Chocolate? Booze?

Oh sh*t. Please stop knitting me things! Buy me a real gift like a normal daughter. Are you sure you’re knitting it for me and it’s not something for yourself that you made and didn’t like? How many stitches did you drop this time? What’s wrong with it?

But I liked that hat! I chose the wool for it, and paid for it too! ANDIIIIII!